The inventor is an avid golfer of many years and has struggled with protecting golf grips from moisture, dirt, sand, grass clippings, and other foreign materials when clubs are placed on the ground when not being used. Golfers often carry more than one golf club to the location of the golf ball and have to place the extra clubs on the ground or against another object such as a tree or large rock as they take the next golf shot. There are numerous situations that cause a golfer to take more than one club from his bag and head to the location of his ball—for example, a player may have to park a golf cart quite a distance away from the ball. Because the player will leave his bag strapped in the cart, the player will take multiple clubs with him to his next ball location because he is unable to determine which club to use until he reaches his ball and determines the approximate distance to the hole. Placing the extra club or clubs, especially the grip portion(s), onto the ground (e.g., the rough, the fairway, or the green) however, exposes the grips on the clubs which are not being played to undesirable elements, all of which can affect the effectiveness of golf club grips.
For example, early morning golfers may deal with large amounts of dew on the course and may thus have difficulty keeping their golf grips dry as they proceed through 18 holes of golf. Golfers who place clubs on the ground near putting greens can also expose golf club grips to sand, mud, grass clippings, fertilizer, pesticides, dirt and other materials that may be applied to the grounds of a golf course during normal maintenance. When contaminated, grips can become very slippery or gritty and can shift in the player's hands, thereby adversely affecting the player's score due to a poor shot.
To avoid exposing the golf grip to the elements, golfers have utilized conventional devices. For example, a golfer may wrap a towel around the grip before placing a club on the ground. Although this technique may work for the first few holes, on a wet day, the towel absorbs much moisture and/or dirt each time it is used and can become increasingly ineffective as a protection mechanism. Another conventional technique involves placing a golf tee or ball mark repair tool into the ground, then delicately balancing the grip potion of the club onto the tee or ball mark repair tool at an elevated height from the ground. However, this technique requires the golfer to use finesse and often times can lead to accidental club drops and slips, defeating the purpose of the exercise and getting the golf club grip wet and/or dirty.